New Delhi: Delhi gang rape accused Ram Singh died due to hanging, police sources said on Tuesday quoting the initial postmortem report.

The autopsy of Singh, who allegedly committed suicide in Tihar on Monday, was conducted at AIIMS on Tuesday and the body was handed over to his family which said they will take the mortal remains to Karauli in Rajasthan.

The post-mortem started at around 11:15 and ended around 12:30 pm, sources said.

They said the initial report suggested that Singh committed suicide. He died due to hanging, the sources said quoting the report.

33-year-old Singh was found hanging in his cell around 5:30 am on Monday. His body was brought to AIIMS at around 4:30 pm the same day after completion of various proceedings, sources said.

Singh's brother, who came to AIIMS to receive the body, alleged that he was murdered and that he saw injury marks on his body and finger marks on his neck.

"My brother was murdered. I have seen injury marks on the body and finger marks on the throat," the brother, who did not wish to be identified, alleged.

They said the Delhi Police was unable to submit the required papers to the hospital for the postmortem because of which the autopsy was deferred for Tuesday. Singh's family will be handed over the body later, they said.

Officials had initially said that the postmortem would be conducted at Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) hospital but the decision was changed to take Ram Singh’s body to AIIMS.

The alleged suicide by Singh raised several questions on the jail authorities of Tihar, prompting speculation on how he managed to kill himself. The alleged suicide sprung a spate of questions on Monday, such as how he got hold of the accessories for committing the act and the ignorance of his cellmates, with the silence of the authorities fuelling further doubt and speculation.

Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said: "I can't come to a conclusion now... Let us wait... The details would come (out) in the magisterial inquiry".

What has raised doubts is whether a "rug" - or a durri in Hindi - can be used to commit suicide by hanging. Else, did Ram Singh shred the rug to make a rope? This would have taken him a few days at least and it would have been difficult to hide it.

The fundamental question dogging the public mind is how could his three cell mates sleep through the entire incident, which came to light at 5.45 am, Tihar Jail officials said.